Air Canada To Launch New Shortest-Ever Nonstop Flights To Asia

This article was updated on Saturday, January 24, to include additional insight. It was originally published on Thursday, January 22.

You might know by now that Air Canada will begin flights to Sapporo in December. Significantly, it will be the only service from North America to the city in northern Japan. However, Aeroroutes indicates that some charter services existed until the late 1990s. It is bound to make my celebratory Weekly Routes article (see the most recent edition).

The development is notable in other ways. For example, it will be the Star Alliance member’s shortest-ever route to Asia. And based on Canada and the continental US, it is the new shortest link for any passenger carrier to Asia. The announcement came shortly after WestJet added its new longest-ever commercial service.

Air Canada To Sapporo

On December 17, Canada’s flag carrier will take off from its Pacific hub of Vancouver to Sapporo. December might appear to be an odd time to begin the new service, but Sapporo is known for winter activities, including skiing and other snow-based adventures.

According to Cirium Diio data, Sapporo will become Air Canada’s fourth destination in Japan, the most since 2018, and its record 13th destination in Asia (excluding the Middle East). It was, in many ways, not ‘just’ another route announcement.

Flights will operate three times a week, which is a pretty standard frequency for a brand-new route. The 255-seat Boeing 787-8 will be deployed, which is Air Canada’s lowest-capacity widebody. Both of these things will reduce operating costs and risk, and help with higher loads, fares, and yields.

Given no other airline operates nonstop from Sapporo to North America, the development is particularly intriguing. And yet, the existing Vancouver-Sapporo market is utterly tiny. According to booking data for the 12 months to November 2025, fewer than 7,000 passengers traveled between the two cities, although it was still the largest Canadian market. Obviously, a lot of passengers will connect elsewhere, especially to Los Angeles (14,000), San Francisco (9,000), and Seattle (6,000). The route might end up struggling.

Air Canada’s New Shortest Asian Route

Canada’s largest airline now plans 19 routes to Asia in 2026, of which 18 are nonstop, and one is served on a one-stop basis (Toronto-London Heathrow-Mumbai, seasonally). These figures exclude the Middle East, which is, of course, part of Asia but is considered separately here.

When its 18 nonstop links are considered, the average stage length is 5,428 nautical miles (10,053 km). This is based on the great circle distance, which measures the shortest distance between each airport. It does not take account of real-world operations, including avoiding Russian and any other airspace.

Its brand-new Sapporo route will cover 3,726 nautical miles (6,901 km) each way. It will, therefore, become Air Canada’s new shortest route to Asia. It’ll replace what was number one for many years, Vancouver to Tokyo Narita, by a pretty decent 8%. For obvious reasons, Air Canada won’t introduce an even shorter route to Asia than to Sapporo.

Air Canada Will Now Fly To 13 Asian Airports

Again ignoring the Middle East, Air Canada’s Asian map is as shown above. It has not served 13 Asian airports before; they’ll be examined properly separately. Some 12 airports were part of its network in 2025, which was its prior record. Last year, Beijing Capital returned to its map, having last been served in 2020, while Manila joined its network. The airline’s development continues apace.

Air Canada has ceased flying to some Asian destinations, which is entirely expected, as cuts happen. Using Cirium data to explore its Asian network since 2004 shows that its frames no longer appear in Nagoya (served until 2005, then again 2017-2018) and Taipei (2017-2020). Nagoya no longer has any nonstop services to Canada or the Lower 48, yet it is a larger market than Sapporo.

What about possible future Asian cities from Vancouver? My bet is on Ho Chi Minh City, which is by far British Columbia’s largest unserved Asian city. It’d be similar to Air Canada’s Bangkok operation. They’re both huge and growing markets from North America, and—perhaps appropriately—United just introduced service to them both from Los Angeles via Hong Kong.